Building an SDR Team: It’s Not as Easy as It Looks

Contrary to what you might think, the most important role in sales is not your salesperson anymore. Not in this new AI-enabled world.

It’s your SDR team.

Sales Development Representatives are the critical link between marketing, sales, and delivery. They’re the ones:

• Building and managing human-to-human relationships
• Maintaining long-term contact nurture
• Qualifying cold and warm leads
• Documenting the pipeline
• Coordinating outbound campaigns with marketing
• And keeping your entire top-of-funnel machine alive

And yet, SDRs are almost always the least supported, least respected, and least understood part of the sales org.

Let’s fix that.

The Most Junior Role Owns the Most Critical Function

Here’s a simple truth:

Without leads, there are no opportunities. Without opportunities, there are no deals.

So why would you put your most junior people in charge of the hardest and most foundational part of your revenue engine?

It makes no sense. And most companies are doing it wrong.

Let’s also be honest: professional services and enterprise salespeople do not enjoy, nor are they built for, the early-stage relationship work that SDRs handle. Lead generation and nurture? They see it as a distraction.

But it’s not a distraction — it’s the source of all your future revenue.

The SDR Model That Grew $5 Billion in Revenue

A few years ago, we helped a client in Asia grow revenue by over $5 billion in a three-year period.

Yes, billion.

The foundation of that growth wasn’t a magical product. It was a disciplined SDR-led model focused on long-term relationship building and touchpoint management.

The entire framework revolved around one idea: stay front of mind, always.

At 1000Steps, over 60% of our own revenue comes from referrals. Not paid ads. Not cold outreach. Referrals generated from consistent contact nurture and trust.

This is what great SDR teams enable. And it’s the future of sales.

Why SDR Teams Are Failing (And Why Yours Might Be, Too)

Building an SDR team sounds simple.

Hire a few juniors. Give them a script. Get meetings booked. Watch the magic happen.

Except — that’s not what happens. What actually happens?

• You hire the wrong people
• You onboard them poorly
• They get no coaching
• They leave
• Or worse, they stay, but add no value

It doesn’t work because building a good SDR model is hard. Much harder than people think.

And that’s what this article is here to address.

Let’s Start with the Basics: What Is an SDR?

No, it’s not Stupid Dumb Rep, although I’ve seen too many managers treat them that way.

SDR = Sales Development Representative.

They’re usually early-career sales professionals. Their job is to:

• Convert cold or inbound leads into warm conversations
• Book qualified meetings for salespeople or consultants
• Run long-term nurture plays on target accounts
• Work with marketing to manage lead flow

Their key metric is meeting volume and meeting quality. But that doesn’t mean it’s all about dials or inbox output. It’s about the human ability to create trust and progression.

SDR Teams We Run (And Why This Isn’t Theory)

We currently manage a fractional SDR team of over 40 reps across 30+ companies.

But this article isn’t about selling you a service.

It’s about showing you how to:

• Build your own team
• Self-assess what’s broken
• Structure a model that scales

Let’s start with a diagnostic.

SDR Self-Assessment: What’s Broken in Your Model?

Go through this list and answer yes or no honestly:

• You’ve hired the wrong people
• You hired good people but managed them the wrong way
• Onboarding is rushed or non-existent
• You don’t really know what “good” looks like in an SDR
• Coaching is inconsistent or missing
• You don’t have a working playbook
• KPIs are focused on results, not behaviours
• You’ve never been an SDR yourself
• Your best reps leave, or move into sales after 6 months
• You let SDRs “get on with it” with little management

If you’re saying yes to even half of these, your SDR model is likely not fit for purpose.

This isn’t blame. It’s reality. And you’re not alone.

A Note on Arrogance (And Accountability)

In my work, I meet a lot of sales directors who tell me:

“Our SDR model is amazing.”

Then I ask about pipeline contribution or meeting conversion, and suddenly… they blame:

• The market
• The economy
• Their CRM
• Or someone else entirely

But never themselves.

Let me be blunt: if you think running an SDR team is easy, you are wrong. I’ve managed over 80 sales consultants. Managing 40 SDRs is harder.

Not because SDRs are harder to work with — they’re amazing — but because the process has more failure points.

Lead generation is messy, multi-channel, emotionally draining, and full of ambiguity. And SDRs are at the heart of it all.

Run the Diagnostic. Then Be Honest.

If your SDR team isn’t producing, it’s not because they’re lazy. It’s because the system is broken.

And more often than not, the person building that system:

• Isn’t prioritising it
• Isn’t close enough to the work
• Isn’t coaching consistently
• Isn’t tracking the right metrics

This role cannot be run on autopilot.

You have to live and breathe it.

What “Good” Looks Like in an SDR Model

Let’s shift gears.

A good SDR team does the following:

• Works closely with Marketing and Sales
• Nurtures leads long before and long after contact
• Creates demand through events, partner engagement, LinkedIn, and more
• Books qualified, targeted meetings that progress toward real deals
• Documents every interaction
• Optimises your key outbound channels

Their job is simple: get people talking to people.

Sales owns the deal.
Marketing owns the brand.
SDRs own the middle — the gap that usually gets dropped.

And if you build your team right, that middle becomes your growth multiplier.

The Three Phases of SDR Team Development

Building a good SDR team happens in three phases.

Don’t skip them. Don’t scale too early. Don’t assume the model is working because meetings are being booked.

Get the model right, then grow it.

Phase 1 — Map and Build Your SDR Model

Start here.

• Assess your current team (or lack of one)
• Be honest about what competencies you have, and what you lack
• Define the role in detail (not just “book meetings”)
• Build Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
• Set up leading and lagging indicators — it’s what they do that creates the outcome
• Create a recruitment framework
• Build a real onboarding program
• Outline a 90-day management and coaching plan

Do not hire anyone until you’ve done this.
Or, if you’ve already hired them, hit pause and rebuild the foundation.

Phase 2 — Hire and Test the Model

Once your model is built:

• Recruit 1 or 2 SDRs
• If you already have a team, fix it first before scaling
• Onboard them properly
• You, as manager/director/CRO, must do SDR work too
• Run the model for 90 days, hands-on
• Adjust weekly based on what you’re learning
• Keep the model lean — no fluff, no over-complexity

At 1000Steps, even our directors do SDR work.

Why? Because you can’t coach what you don’t understand. And the job has changed, even in the last 12 months.

It’s not just calls and emails. It’s:

• Events
• Content
• Social posting
• Partner follow-up
• Database management
• CRM hygiene
• Meeting prep
• Qualification strategy

If you’re not in it, you can’t fix it.

Phase 3 — Build the Larger Team

Once your first SDRs are working and your model is validated, you move into scale. But scaling isn’t just “hire more people.” It’s rebuilding the machine based on what you’ve learned.

Here’s what to do in this phase:

• Redo your onboarding, coaching, and SOPs based on real experience
• Reassess the training needs of your team
• Audit your current SDRs — who’s working, who’s struggling, and why?
• Redefine your “ideal SDR” — it will have changed after 3 months
• Set up daily metrics reviews, then move to weekly reviews
• Identify what’s really causing issues: e.g., too many leads is often worse than not enough
• Measure ROI based on meeting quality, not just count

📌 Related: Sales Process Design

👉 Book a Strategy Call

What Does a “Successful” SDR Team Look Like?

It depends.

There’s no single model that works across all companies. But success depends on 5 key variables:

1. Your product
2. Who handles first meetings
3. Marketing’s lead quality and volume
4. Your go-to-market channels
5. Your SDR management maturity

Let’s break these down.

1. What Is Your Product?

Assuming you’re B2B, several product factors shape your SDR approach:

• How technical is the product?
• What’s the average deal size?
• Do you have product–market fit?
• Is your market niche or broad?

For example:

• A niche consulting firm with 30 target clients needs a targeted, relationship-first model
• A SaaS company selling low-cost CRM tools can use a volume-driven, marketing-led SDR play

One size does not fit all.

2. Who Does the First Meeting?

This is a huge mistake many companies make.

In complex sales: SDRs should not run first meetings.

Here’s why:

• They can’t qualify properly
• They can’t answer nuanced questions
• They aren’t respected by senior buyers

Instead, use this model:

• SDR books the meeting
• SDR attends and takes notes
• Senior sales or consulting lead runs the meeting
• SDR continues nurture and documentation after

Exception: If you’re selling a low-value or low-complexity product, SDRs can handle the first call. But this is the minority.

3. How Effective Is Marketing?

Your SDR strategy will look very different depending on marketing’s performance.

If marketing is generating:

• High volume, high-quality leads → SDRs manage velocity and qualification
• Few leads → SDRs must generate pipeline from scratch

The best-case scenario is both:

• Great inbound from marketing
• High-output outbound from SDRs

This gives you stability and control.

📌 Related: Sales and Marketing Strategy

4. What Are Your Channels?

Pick no more than three lead generation channels and build your SDR system around them.

For us at 1000Steps:

• Networking
• Partners and referrals
• LinkedIn-driven thought leadership

That’s it. We’ve dialled those in and optimised them.

You need to do the same:

• Define your top channels
• Document how each works
• Build the SDR process around them

Everything else is noise.

5. How Skilled Are You at SDR Management?

Let me say this clearly:

Just because you’re a good sales director does not mean you can run an SDR team.

It’s a different skillset.

At 1000Steps:

• We have a Director of SDR who manages only the team
• A Client Services Director who coordinates with clients
• 3 managers under the Director
• And I still do SDR work myself, to stay sharp

And we still drop the ball sometimes.

Why? Because it’s complex.

SDRs deal with:

• LinkedIn messaging
• Event follow-ups
• CRM accuracy
• Webinars
• ABM
• Partner management
• Posting content
• Getting reps organised
• And handling rejection all day long

Are you really resourced for that?

Ongoing Execution: What Keeps the SDR Engine Running

Once you’ve got a model and a team, the challenge becomes keeping it consistent.

Here’s what drives ongoing performance:

• Clear, evolving SOPs
• Weekly review of metrics (leading + lagging)
• High-quality coaching and mentoring
• Smart integration with marketing
• SDRs and sales reps working closely
• Tight management of lead status and handoff
• Active contact nurture, not just outreach
• Constant refinement

📌 Related: CRM Solutions

Final Thought: SDRs Aren’t Junior, They’re Critical

As we move deeper into an AI-driven, buyer-first world, your SDRs become more valuable — not less.

They’re the humans keeping real contact alive.
They’re the ones navigating complex org charts.
They’re the ones hearing what buyers actually care about.

And yet, most orgs treat them like disposable junior staff.

Flip that mindset, and your entire sales system will change.

Ready to Build or Fix Your SDR Model?

If your SDR team isn’t delivering the right results, the issue is almost always the system, not the people.

We’ve helped dozens of companies restructure their SDR model for better results, lower churn, and more predictable revenue.

👉 Book a Strategy Call

FAQ: SDR Team Strategy